News

Almost all heritage institutions have them: CDs, DVDs and floppy discs bearing digital heritage. Unfortunately, at about 40% of the Dutch heritage institutions this material is in danger of being lost, according to a recently published study by the Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DDHN). That is … if no action is taken now.

"The information on these CDs and other so-called physical carriers belongs to collections and should therefore be permanently accessible," says Niels Komen, project leader of the DDHN project Endangered Digital Heritage on Portable Media. This spring, his project group conducted research among 150 Dutch heritage institutions.

Niels: "We saw that many heritage institutions don’t really know what to do with floppy disks, CD-ROMs or a hard disk. Sometimes because there is no equipment available to read them, sometimes because the carrier has been damaged over the years. But if action is not taken in time, in many cases the content of the carrier will be lost forever."

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to welcome data management consulting and software company AVP to its Supporter Program this month.

AVP offers a full range of digital preservation services and products of relevance to the DPC community, including: assessments and audits; system selection, implementation, and customisation; custom software development and software products such as Fixity and Exactly.

[French and Spanish versions follow]

We, the signatories of this statement, call on governments, businesses, and research institutions around the world to document their decisions and transactions now and for the future. 

Building on the UNESCO communique ‘Turning the threat of COVID-19 into an opportunity for greater support to documentary heritage’ and reinforcing the call that decision-makers in the public and private sectors recognise the value of records management and archives, the statement has three calls to action: 

Today the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and the UK National Archives celebrates the release of the Novice to Know-How online digital preservation training pathway with an online launch event. As part of The National Archives' ‘Plugged In Powered Up’ strategy, the free online training provides learners with the skills and confidence required to preserve the born-digital records held by their organisation.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a new resource designed to assist its members in the construction of a digital preservation policy.

Exclusively for DPC Member institutions and developed with a team from the University of Bristol, the Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit guides users from initial research and preparation phases, through to drafting a policy, gathering feedback and communicating the finished policy. 

Following the launch of the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) office in Melbourne, members in Australia meet today as the DPC Australasia Stakeholder Group for the first time.

The Stakeholder Group has been constituted to ensure that members in Australia, New Zealand and surrounding areas inform the development of the local program and can direct the DPC’s activities to meet their own particular needs. 

Providing a forum where members in Australasia can articulate their needs, the Stakeholder Group will guide and oversee activities relating to the Coalition’s core objectives in the region, reporting to the DPC’s Executive Board and ensuring that the DPC remains true to its values and mission.

The following article is a statement from the ICA and is available in English, French and Spanish below

#StayHome learn from home: ICA’s offer to the archival community during COVID-19

Above all, we hope you - and your family and staff - are in good health.

A new situation calling for new measures. We all recognize the unprecedented situation that the worlwide COVID-19 crisis is having on your work, domestic and social structures, all of which are being impacted. The whole ICA team has switched to homeworking but even remotely, the team spirit persists. Our overriding message to all of the ICA network is: stay at home, but stay connected! The ica.org website remains open during this period and we remain available by email, telephone and videoconference.